NASA astronauts can now carry their phones with them on missions to the moon

Get ready for some out-of-this-world selfies. NASA astronauts will be allowed to take smartphones into space for the first time, starting with the Crew-12 and Artemis II missions.

Crew II is expected to head to the International Space Station next weekwhen the highly anticipated Artemis II mission – which will carried humans around the moon for the first time since the 1960s – this was delayed until March.

“We’re giving crew members the tools to capture special moments for their families and share inspiring images and videos with the world,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said. write in X.

With the latest iPhones and Android devices in hand, the crew will be able to be more spontaneous with images and video gathering, which means that for us back home, these upcoming trips to space could be some of NASA’s most documented journeys.

Imagine how cool (or cringe-worthy) it would be if astronauts became TikTok stars in zero gravity, or if they took wide-angle selfies in space. For those who work in the government bureaucracy, it’s fun, apparently, NASA approved this rule change quite quickly.

“Just as importantly, we are challenging long-standing processes and modern hardware that are capable of spaceflight on such an accelerated timeline,” Isaacman wrote. “That operational proximity will serve NASA well as it pursues cutting-edge science and research in orbit and on the lunar surface.”

It makes sense that it will be hard to approve new technology to go into space – if one small thing goes astray, spaceflight can go very wrong. So far, the latest cameras to go on the mission are Nikon DSLRs and decade-old GoPros, respectively Ars Technica. It doesn’t mean it’s weird, but there’s something more spontaneous and weird about using a smartphone.

However, this isn’t the first time he’s owned a smartphone go to space. SpaceX allowed Smartphones to be independent personal astronaut mission.